The Rise of the Therapeutic Society
Psychological Knowledge & the Contradictions of Cultural Change
- 370 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Rise of the Therapeutic Society
Psychological Knowledge & the Contradictions of Cultural Change
About This Book
An examination of the Western world's contemporary fascination with psychological life, and the historical developments that fostered it. In this book, sociologist Katie Wright traces the ascendancy of therapeutic culture, from nineteenth-century concerns about nervousness, to the growth of psychology, the diffusion of an analytic attitude, and the spread of therapy and counseling, using Australia as a focal point. Wright's analysis, which draws on social theory, cultural history, and interviews with therapists and people in therapy, calls into question the pessimism that pervades many accounts of the therapeutic turn and provides an alternative assessment of its ramifications for social, political, and personal life in the globalized West. Special Commendation, TASA Raewyn Connell Prize
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Table of contents
- eBook Cover
- Title Page
- Preface & Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1: The Therapeutic Society & Its Discontents
- 2: Modernity, Medicine & the Problem of "Nerves"
- 3: The Legitimation of Psychological Expertise
- 4: Cultural Diffusion of the Analytic Attitude
- 5: Therapy: Inside the Talking Cure
- 6: Reflections on the Therapeutic Turn
- Notes
- Bibliography